Höllentalbahn

Geschichte

|}The Höllentalbahn is a railway line that partially runs through the Höllental valley in the Black Forest of Germany. The line connects Freiburg im Breisgau with Donaueschingen, a distance of 74.7km.Over its entire course the line rises from an altitude of 278m in Freiburg to 885m in Hinterzarten. Part of the route has a 5.5% gradient, making the line one of the steepest in Germany. The line passes through beautiful scenery along its entire length.The section Freiburg-Neustadt is electrified since 18 June 1936. Because of this and the steady decrease of traffic between Neustadt and Donaueschingen the route did not represent an operational unit anymore. The last direct connection between Freiburg and Donaueschingen ended in 2003 with the Kleber-Express being discontinued. Missing sections are supposed to be electrified until the end of 2019 in the course of the project “Breisgau-S-Bahn 2020”, in order to enable direct trains from Breisach via Freiburg, Neustand and Donaueschingen to Villingen.HistoryThe line, which opened as far as Neustadt in 1887, was constructed for the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways and was the last project of railway architect Robert Gerwig. The 7.2km section of the line between Hirschsprung and Hinterzarten has a maximum gradient of 5.5%, and was initially operated as a rack railway on the Riggenbach system.